Four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission have crossed the halfway point of their journey to the moon, positioning themselves to surpass the human spaceflight distance record currently held by Apollo 13.
The crew consisting of three American astronauts and one Canadian is scheduled to arrive at their lunar destination on Monday, where they will capture images of the moon’s far side during their flyby. This marks the first crewed lunar mission in over five decades, continuing where NASA’s Apollo program concluded.
The Artemis II spacecraft is on track to establish a new human distance record by traveling beyond 252,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from Earth before making a turn around the moon’s far side and returning home without landing or entering lunar orbit.
Canada’s space program marked a historic milestone as officials from Quebec celebrated astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s participation in the mission. Hansen represents the first non-American citizen to journey toward the moon.
“Today he is making history for Canada,” said Canadian Space Agency President Lisa Campbell. “As we watch him taking this bold step into the unknown, let his journey remind us that Canada’s future is written by those who dare to reach for more.”
During a live television broadcast, Hansen described witnessing “extraordinary” sights from inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft.
The four-person crew – Hansen, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch – represents the first group of lunar-bound astronauts since the three-member Apollo 17 team in 1972. Koch becomes the first woman to travel to the moon, while Glover holds the distinction as the first Black astronaut on a lunar mission.
The mission spans nearly 10 days and will conclude with an ocean landing in the Pacific on April 10. This flight serves as the opening phase of NASA’s ambitious strategy to establish a permanent lunar base, with plans calling for two astronauts to land near the moon’s south pole by 2028.
